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Tactical Augmented Organism (Wildstorm Universe)
In December 2003, Lynch woke up from his coma. Less than a month later, Tao's plan finally came into fruition, when the American scientists finally launched a probe into the Bleed. It exploded, damaging the Carrier of an ancient extra-dimensional race known as the Vigil crashed into Florida, killing millions of people on impact. Once the Authority learned that the US government launched the flawed probe, they set out to take over United States. In twenty-four hours, the nation was under their control. Sensing an opportunity, Lynch convinced the new government to let him establish his own agency, Internal Operations. It's stated goal was to take down Tao and the Syndicate. Over the next few months, the war between Lynch and Tao raged with Holden in the middle, manipulated by both sides. Tao claimed that Lynch was his father, not his physical father, but his spiritual father who had ordered the project that created TAO. In the end, Lynch managed to restore Grifter's memory and gave him protection against Tao's mind-control. Grifter attacked Tao's organization, while Carver made his move on Tao himself. Grifter single-handedly wiped out the remains of Tao's syndicate, while Carver captured Tao and removed his tongue. Tao was found by I.O. and imprisoned. Worldstorm After the events of Sleeper in which Tao was finally caught, there isn't much known about what happened to him. It was assumed that he was still in I.O. custody, but it appears that was not the case. It turned out that he had escaped at some point, regenerated or regrew his tongue, came into possession of the restored Void, and was making rather elaborate plans to continue his work of destroying the world. Tao's first move was to use Void to send various heroes into the future to show them a world that had been destroyed. Heroes from several prominent groups in the Wildstorm Universe saw the future but for whatever reason the actions they took on their return to the present didn't have the results that Tao wanted (or change it like they wanted). That was until Nemesis. When she went into the future and came back she reacted in the way Tao wanted her to and in her efforts to stop the end of the world, actually started it. In preparation of the Armageddon Tao prepared for the event, possessing an army of SPBs in storage that he'd planned an uprising of another group of SPBs, and it appeared that he had set up a backup body with his personality in it in case anything should happen to him. World's End After the events of Number of the Beast, Tao set out with Void in order to capture Providence. He had learned about the Orb of Power and wanted to control anyone who had parts of the Orb's essence. He also revealed that using Void's power, he was able to control some of the most powerful heroes on the planet including StormWatch's Jackson King and Majestic. But for some unknown reason he could not control some heroes like John Lynch. However, Tao considered heroes like Lynch too weak to even oppose him and his new power. After Providence was defeated and captured, Tao desired to go after Max Faraday as well, the only other person to have the power of the Orb just like Void and Providence. Tao was eventually confronted by Lynch and his allies Team-7 and the Wildcats at his center of operations in Salt Lake City, and was able to overpowered both teams, even including Spartan who regained his godly power as Jack Marlowe. The teams were forced to retreat and Tao killed Providence who sacrificed herself to delay him, but proven effortless as Tao was still able to track them in leading him to Faraday. This led Tao and his Syndicate to attack and wreak havoc on Faraday's island refuge, forcing Faraday, Team-7 and the Wildcats to engage the Syndicate in a raging battle. Tao was too powerful to both Faraday and Spartan, and almost close to finishing them until Majestic arrived and effectively subdue him with the Nemesis Swords as the bladed weapons were forged from the Creation Engine. However, Tao's underling Pit Bull took Faraday's wife Susanna hostage and was protected by Tao's remaining powers from Faraday, placing Tao to easily demand Faraday to reveal him the Creation Equation that would fulfill his quest into becoming a god. .]] Faraday obeyed to Tao's threat, but Ladytron listened to what Faraday revealed to him and recorded and channeled it to his enemies in possessing the same power that matches Tao. Though, Tao teleported his enemies to the Hollow Realm where he separates all the heroes into facing their personal weaknesses in order to keep them occupied, and for him to personally battle Faraday and Spartan. After defeating the two and taking away Spartan's power, Tao was then confronted by both Void and Susanna who tried to make him see his human flaws which still exist despite his new godhood. Spartan further told Tao that the very power of the Creation Equation will eventually "fix" him because his use of it for chaos and destruction go against everything the Creation Equation exists for. Tao still fights it but eventually does relinquished some of his power. But he kept enough to still be more powerful until Grifter takes advantage of Tao's monologuing and shot him in the head. Tao then disappeared and relinquished his powers back to Void, Faraday, and as well disposing from the late Providence. Despite his fatal shot, Tao used barely of what left of his powers to repair what Grifter did to him and now probably reverted back to his pre-godhood state. Tao's ordeal was not over, in which he had further plans for John Lynch. He secretly tampered Lynch's brain and manipulating him in almost releasing the Warguard before Team-7 discovered Tao's machination. | Powers = * : Tao is superhumanly intelligent, especially when it comes to predicting and manipulating human behavior. His mind has been said to have entered a conceptual territory so far above from conventional humans that one might as well attempt explaining quantum physics to an ant. His I.Q. is said to be immeasurable by any human test and was said to have absorbed all of human knowledge by the time he was physically a teenager. * : Tao can quickly manipulate people using his words, forcing them to do what he wants or erasing specific memories. At one point he is shown completely undermining Stormwatch-member Fuji's self-confidence, rendering him nearly catatonic merely by having a short conversation with him. He has singlehandedly taken control of the WildC.A.T.S and Stormwatch as a personal army for a brief while. Upon discovery of this neither the WildC.A.T.S nor Stormwatch were able to stop him due to his exit strategy already in place. His ability to control others is a result of the application of an insidious intellect on flawed human minds. In an issue of Gen¹³, he was described as having the ability to completely control a victim's sense of logic. | Abilities = * : Usually Tao manipulates circumstances so that he has no need to fight. Tao's ability to manipulate others not only allows for a personal army to fight for him, but rarely do his enemies find themselves able to lift a finger against him. His inhuman perception allows him to see a persons deepest secrets and flaws after a few glancing moments or a conversation. Scientists working on the TAO project found that even speaking briefly with him was dangerous. Words are his most dangerous weapon, allowing him to subtly apply psychological pressure * : Physically Tao doesn't seem to be much of a threat, though he has shown amazing agility and some knowledge of martial arts, especially in matters of pressure points. Though he does not prefer to use such skills. * : Tao's grasp of tactical, strategic thinking has achieved a seemingly transcendent level which utterly surpasses normal human consciousness. More often than not anyone fighting him is stopped by Tao taking advantage of a weakness, or his enemies find it too costly to attack him. He always seems to be a step ahead of everybody else. People are like pawns on a chess board which he moves around with ease, always multiple steps ahead of all others. | Strength = | Weaknesses = | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = | Notes = | Trivia = | Wikipedia = Tao (comics) | Links = }} Category:WildC.A.T.s members